Silent Epidemic: Hepatitis C Has U.S. Taking Notice

OraSure Technologies is developing an oral hepatitis C virus test that would deliver results in about 20 minutes, the Bethlehem-based firm recently announced. This would help diagnose people with HCV earlier and link them to treatment.

HCV is mostly transmitted through intravenous drug use (IDU), and, less often, through unprotected sex, and occupational exposure. People who received blood transfusions before July 1992 may also be at risk. New annual HCV diagnoses in the nation have declined from 240,000 in the 1980s to 26,000 in 2004, according to CDC.

However, of the estimated 4.1 million U.S. residents believed to have HCV, fewer than half know they are infected, since most are asymptomatic. It can take decades before HCV infection manifests symptoms and people become chronically ill. Most of those infected are Baby Boomers, and epidemiologists are bracing for an upsurge in diagnoses. Treatment success varies according to HCV type.

OraSure plans to test its HCV diagnostic this summer, and it will seek U.S. regulatory approval by year's end, said CEO Douglas Michels. If approved, the test could be available by the second half of 2008, OraSure said.

Back to other news for April 2007